Posted on 03/31/2006 1:51:43 PM PST by austinite
hmmmm if such a high percentage of patients is in the
350-500+ lb range im thinking that bigger beds and
wide doorways are the least of our country's problem ...
Got a brother-in-law in this category and he is highly indignant about any reaction to his girth.....drove a folding chair leg into a hardwood floor, broke the frame on my sofa and doesn't have an ounce of remorse.
When people criticize American health care and say Europeans live longer (slightly), my answer is that Europeans don't have as many fat people as we do. Even the greatest medical system in the world can't make a 500-pound person live to see 70.
At what point should insurance companies start charging by the pound?
about one-third of the 900 patients weighed 350 pounds or more
Holy crap! Is this hospital on Jupiter?
It wasn't until recently that there were scales that went much above 300 pounds. Now they're SOP in most hospitals. And it would make sense that the morbidly obese would make a higher % of hospital admits.
The relative I mentioned above WORKS in health care....and was routinely weighed in the kitchen, where there was a scale to weigh in bulk food deliveries of some sort.
Exactly!
I can remember many times the patient being wheeled down to the back loading dock to be weighed. Personally, I think that is wrong from about 10 different directions from dignity to safety to sanitation and hygiene.
I'm glad they finally have the right kind of scales in patient care areas.
A union-commissioned survey of more than 900 nurses and X-ray technicians found the majority have chronic pain or have suffered injuries from lifting and moving patients.
Frankly, I'm not interested in subsidizing special treatment for huge numbers of the morbidly obese. Neither do I wish the taxpayer to make massive workman's comp payouts for the hospital staff who care for them.
Nope, just down the road a piece from me.
"Henk, 41, represents both patients and those who try to help the obese — she is program manager for Washington University's weight management program.
She's been heavy for as long as she can remember — she was in Weight Watchers by age 5. "Everybody in my family is at least 100 pounds overweight," she said.
Gastric bypass surgery seven years ago helped her shed some weight, but she's dropped to 315 pounds mostly through better eating and exercise."
Hhmmmm ... a little math shows that following Weight Waters from age 5 to age 34 left her hundreds of pounds overweight.
Wouldn't make a great commercial...
Almost everybody costs the system in the last years of their lives, I remember reading that five out of every six dollars spent on medical care in this country are during the last six months of life. In the case of the morbidly obese, they are generally not drawing down ten or fifteen years worth of Social Security payments on the way out, in addition.
The advances in gastric bypass surgery should start to, pardon the expression, "thin" out their numbers. But, they're all going to die someday, and are pretty much guaranteed to sap the healthcare system at that time, like almost everybody else.
I'll bet you got a lot of potholes.
Ain't that the truth? The costs on all sides are huge...almost as huge as these patients. I can't help but wonder at what point you say, gee, I haven't seen my feet in 5 years....wonder if I should drop a few pounds?
I think she has that back-assward.
He'd get a bill from me, or a threat to his life if he ever came back to my house if he didn't pay.
...and are pretty much guaranteed to sap the healthcare system at that time, like almost everybody else.
We all sap the healthcare system at some time, but not all of us incur illness through extremes of destructive behavior.
There's already a cheap, established and effective treatment for obesity---a healthy diet and a $25 pair of walking shoes. I'd be happy to see taxpayer funding for trips to the dietitian.
just damn! Never heard that one before.
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